Chapter 1

     Sunlight glittered through the entrance of the nursery down on Snowkit, who blinked her eyes open in surprise. As she stood up and stretched out her back, she saw her littermates, Hollykit and Firekit sleeping next to their mother, Cinderheart. Looking outside, she noticed Brambleclaw, Thunderclan's deputy, organizing the dawn patrol. Snowkit bounded across the clearing to him.

      “Can I go too?” she asked excitedly.

      Brambleclaw looked around, with a confused expression. Then with a glint of amusement in his eyes, he turned back to Snowkit. “Last time I checked, kits stay in the nursery.”

      He must have seen her disappointment because he sat down next to her and told her how when Jayfeather, her father, and Hollyleaf were kits, they couldn't even come out into the clearing without someone knowing.

      “You should consider yourself lucky you don't have to do that.” he finished.

      “But I'm almost an apprentice!” Snowkit whined.

      “You're not the first tiny kit to say that. If you want to get out, you'll have to think of another excuse.

      Snowkit fluffed out her snowy pelt indignantly and stared up at him. “I am not a tiny kit!” she huffed.

      “Oh, really? I thought you were only 1 moon old!” he mewed, and gave her a friendly flick on her ear with his tail.

      “I'm not 1 moon old! I'm 4!”

      “Okay, Brambleclaw, you can stop ruffling her fur now.” Snowkit turned around to see Lionblaze watching silently, looking slightly amused.

      Brambleclaw spoke. “Alright Lionblaze, but I must tell you, your daughter is very clever. She knows how many moons she is!” He let out a mrrow of laughter and padded away.

      Lionblaze turned toward Snowkit. “Why are you out here bothering warriors who have better things to do than take care of you?” Snowkit looked up into his burning eyes and flinched. Doesn't he even care about me. “Snowkit, I asked you something, are you going to answer?”

      Snowkit just turned away, grumbling about how unfair he was being and padded back to the nursery.

She settled down next to Firekit and groomed herself. She didn't feel like sleeping, so she kept glancing at Firekit and Hollykit to see if they were awake yet.

      Smokepaw poked his head into the nursery. Snowkit stared at him, wondering why he was here. “Hi, Snowkit. Want to come out and play? I don't have to go anywhere right now,” he hissed quietly, so he wouldn't wake any of the others up.

      “Okay!” Snowkit meowed and jumped out of the nursery.

      Out in the clearing, she couldn't see Smokepaw. She scanned the area for a moment, then spotted him racing toward Highledge. Snowkit raced after him. She caught up to him and asked, “Where are we going?”
      "There's this place toward the side of Highledge, where no cat has gone. That could be our special meeting place. It will be secret, for no cat to know about."
      "But everyone will get worried if they don't know where I am! Don't they get worried for you too?" Snowkit asked curiously.
      "That will change once you become an apprentice. The more you go out of camp, the less they worry," he assured her.
      "But I have 2 more moons to go!" Snowkit cried.
      "Be quiet or everyone will see where we go," he hissed.
      Snowkit and Smokepaw slowed to a stop and looked around. Snowkit saw the medicine den ahead and just after that was Highledge. Then, without warning, Smokepaw flashed away again. Snowkit could see him slow down, waiting for her to catch up, so Snowkit scrambled as fast as she could to get to him. Just as they were about to cross the medicine den, they almost bumped into Jayfeather, who was just going in carrying a bundle of herbs. "Sorry, Jayfeather!" Snowkit gasped.
      Even though she knew he couldn't see them, Snowkit saw that his blue eyes were fixed in a glare. "Watch where you're going!" Jayfeather hissed. Then he muttered, "Kits! Don't have any any sense!" as he padded inside.
      "Okay," Smokepaw mewed, "now I'm going to go wait by the side of Highledge, and you follow after a few moments. Lick yourself, or do something that looks natural."
      Snowkit watched him walk away calmly, and scratched her ear, even though there wasn't an itch. Then after looking around to make sure no one was watching, she went to join him.
      Walking alongside Highledge, she looked out for Smokepaw. When she couldn't see him, her curiosity turned to fear, and was just about to leave, when suddenly a heavy weight landed on her back. She let out a startled yelp and tried to flip over and run. But her attacker held her firmly to the ground. Then in her ear, she heard, "Got you!"
"Smokepaw! Let me go!" Snowkit wailed unhappily at being beaten by her former denmate. he had only just started his warrior training and he was already so much better than her?! I'll get you later, I promise, Smokepaw. Just wait till my apprentice ceremony.
      Smokepaw was laughing behind her. As Snowkit got up and began to groom herself again, between licks, she shot glares at him.
      "Come on, Snowkit. We can share tongues later. But right now let me show you the spot. Snowkit followed Smokepaw for a few more pawsteps and gaped at what Smokepaw was showing her.

      It was another little tiny clearing perfect for a small clan. Snowkit wondered why no cat has found this place yet.
      "Well, what do you think?" he paused, waiting for an answer. When he didn't hear one, he went on. "Don't you realize how much fun this could be? We could make our very own clan and I'd be your mentor and you could be my apprentice!"
      "It would be fun..." Snowkit trailed off, thinking about how it wouldn't be right. if a cat discovered something like this, they should report it to their leader. "But we can't. I mean if any of the other warriors discovered something like this, they would report it to Firestar, right?"
      Smokepaw stared at her with a disbelieving look on his face for a moment and then said, "Great Starclan! You are not going to tell Firestar, are you?"
      "No, well not yet anyway..."
      "Snowkit, please, just think about it!"
      Snowkit realized how this would be. She would get to be an apprentice before she actually is. She would be a warrior before she actually is! "Snowkit, if you don't agree, I'll go and get Hollykit to join me. I'm sure she would!"
That made Snowkit shudder. She didn't know why, she just didn't like it when anyone else was with Smokepaw, especially not Hollykit. "No, I'll join you. But not now. I should be getting back to the nursery, everyone will have ticks in their fur if they don't know where I am."
      "Okay. Let's go," he said happily.
      As Snowkit padded out of the small clearing and out the side of Highledge, she saw Jayfeather walking out of his medicine den and heading toward the fresh-kill pile. "I should probably say sorry to him," she murmured.
      "Why?" Snowkit jumped, startled, because she hadn't meant for Smokepaw to hear her. He went on. "He is a blind medicine cat. He can't blame us for his being blind."
      "Well, even then, we could have been more careful anyway," Snowkit continued, a bit unsure. The last of Snowkit's confidence died when she saw that Smokepaw snorted.
      "Come on, Snowkit. There's nothing to worry about. You're forgetting that he's also your kin. He doesn't hate you or blame you." Smokepaw gave Snowkit a quick lick on the ear. "Let's go get some fresh-kill."
      "Sorry, Smokepaw, I should probably be getting back to the nursery right now. Maybe Hollykit and Firekit are awake now and I can play with them." Snowkit bounded over to the nursery and poked her head in. Firekit and Hollykit were just beginning to stir. She padded quietly over to Hollykit and prodded her on her side.
      "Snowkit, what was that for?" she complained.

     "Come out Hollykit, let's play!And I'm starving, so come quickly so we can go eat." Snowkit left Hollykit to lick herself and went to go wake Firekit up.
      Firekit was up immediately, and running out of the nursery. Cinderheart woke up, startled, and then relaxed when she realized nothing happened. Snowkit shot an amused glance at Hollykit, then calmly padded out herself.
Her amusement faded away when she saw Jayfeather eating alone outside his den. He looked troubled, like he was remembering some bad memory. Except he was staring right at Brightheart.

      Maybe I should go say sorry to him. As she approached him, she saw his ears flick up, and his gaze turn towards her.
      "Snowkit?" When Jayfeather didn't look angry, Snowkit let the fur on her shoulders relax.
      "I, er, came to say-" she began.
      Jayfeather sighed. "It's fine, Snowkit. I was a kit once too, you know," he said. "Do you want to finish this vole? I'm not really that hungry right now."
      Snowkit was about to say no thanks, but then she realized he was trying to make peace with her again. "Sure, thanks."
      "Lionblaze must love you a lot, doesn't he?" Jayfeather asked. He sounded almost... sad. "Want to come in?" he offered when he stood up and turned toward the entrance.
      "Okay," Snowkit replied and hurried in after him.
      "Lionblaze must feel lucky to have an daughter like you." Snowkit wondered why he was going on about that.     

     "Well, I'm not sure..." Snowkit trailed off, thinking she shouldn't say bad about her father, especially not to his brother.
      "Oh?" Jayfeather looked up from sorting herbs. Then he settled down and looked at her. "What do you mean?"
      Well, there's no way out now. "Well... sometimes I feel like he doesn't even care about me. He's always too bothered about Hollykit. He never pays any attention to me except to scold me."
      Jayfeather let out a long sigh. "You must have heard we once had a sister?" Snowkit nodded. "Well, her name was Hollyleaf, and she looked just like Hollykit does now. he just gets reminded of her when he sees Hollykit and so he wants to be with her most of the time?"
      "Why don't you then?" Snowkit blurted out then instantly felt bad. She saw Jayfeather flick his ears up startled.
      "Because she isn't my kit, she is Lionblaze's," he hissed. Then he looked down at his herbs again and flicked his tail as a sign to dismiss her.